ITV v BT Sport in the battle for FA Cup supremacy... so, who came out on top?

'It's going to be a long afternoon'. So said Clarke Carlisle during what was an excellent dissection of West Ham's formation issues in the first half of their third round FA Cup tie at Nottingham Forest.

What's more, that phrase could also have been referring to telly's attempt to provide an appropriate stage for football's oldest Cup competition. A modern cultural phenomenon that might be dubbed Third Round Sunday.

Carlisle was sharing his thoughts in the first of three live televised games - interrupted only by the armchair-supporting army getting another chance to see football's favourite cardigan in action (more of which in a few paragraphs).

Such a dazzling cardigan of many colours: Allen wore the cardigan first for the fourth round draw

Back once again: Allen was also wearing the top on the highlights show with Gordon Strachan

It was ITV who provided this first frame of the triptych. Although they were also on call the evening before for the north London derby.

This being the game in which Clive Tyldesley blew his audition for Mock The Week when his satirical zinger about Tottenham's Romanian defender Vlad Chiriches went down like a lead Ballon d'Or.

Which was a shame for him, because he'd actually set himself up nicely for a big laugh elsewhere. When discussing Tim Sherwood's prospects in the game. He set himself up beautifully.

'The last Tottenham manager to win his first north London derby?', teased Clive. 'Gerry Francis. Nineteen years ago'. But he then failed to deliver the punchline. Which may have gone a little something like this: 'Of course, a bit like with Tom Huddlestone, that might explain his haircut'.Dara O'Briain, I await your call.

BT Sport had already got under way with the build up to their two games before Andy Reid had smashed Forest's fifth into the roof of West Ham's net. But both channels were as one at 2pm when we joined Matt Smith at Wembley for the fourth round draw.

Which was presumably two games before the end of the third round so that ITV could also have a piece of the action? Whatever the reason, it still felt about three hours too early.

On hand to pluck the ties out of the goldfish bowl were the Allen cousins, Paul and Martin - the latter of which was the man giving Joseph's Technicolour Dreamcoat a run for its money. Whether you were impressed or not by Mad Dog's random ball selection, as Adrian put it, at least 'the jumper (got) another welcome outing on national television'.

For their double header, Jake and his pundits were warmly ensconced back at BT HQ. And the first game for them featured the FA Cup's 'Employee of the Month', Jose Mourinho. Not only had he been chief cheerleader for the competition, he was also very flattering about his opposing manager, Steve McClaren.

Indeed, the prospect of seeing this pair working their technical areas was one of the more mouthwatering prospects of this game. But Steve failed to hit his mark. Which felt like a real shame until the camera first picked him out high in the stadium.

After all, who needs a wally with a brolly when you’ve got a gaffer in a box, sat in front of a potted palm, chatting away on a landline. He looked for all intents and purposes like he was ordering a burger from room service on the balcony of his hotel room.

Flower power: McClaren calls the bench with some instructions while sat in front of a large plant

Luckily, though, the Derby boss did decide to grace the touchline in the second half, and in doing so provided BT with their hero shot for the match. As the game wound down, Jose got a bit hot under the collar about a throw in decision.

But this soon turned into a bit of laughing, joking and play wrestling with his fellow manager. With their big raincoats emphasising the point, they could easily have been mistaken for a couple of teenagers messing about on their way to the bus stop after school.

Come the second game from Old Trafford, and we were provided with an entirely different perspective of the precarious life lived on the tightrope of the white line. A man down, and 2-1 down at home to Swansea, all that Manchester United and their manager David Moyes had left to cling on to was four minutes of added time.

Rough and tumble: Mourinho and McClaren had time to share a joke on the touchline at Pride Park

The station has already proved to be
frequently innovative in using the little window in the bottom left hand
corner of the screen. Picking out a protagonist while the game goes on
full size. This time, for virtually the entire, agonising last 240
seconds, the camera stared unwaveringly and unblinkingly at the United
boss.

It was at once compelling AND almost too painful to watch as he lived every last desperate second of the game.

It was a moment of intense, personal drama picked out in a maelstrom of action and under the noses of tens of thousands of impassioned supporters. And was a fittingly grandstand way in which to capture the final moments of an unwavering day of genuine Cup tie football.

Indeed, it was pretty much all exactly the kind of stuff that already has me making a date with next year’s third round Sunday.

Video nasty: The cameras were all focused on Moyes in the final throes of the Cup defeat by Swansea